Alleged Arsonist Makes Shephard Fairey Exhibit Relevant

Splasher over Shepard Fairey/Photo: Gothamist
There was actual excitement last night at Shepard Fairey’s exhibit in DUMBO and it had little to do with the predictable art he installed. Some pranksters attempted to set a “flammable device” off. The whole room was cleared out and the NYPD’s bomb squad was called in. A suspect was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and attempted arson.
Although there’s no proof of who the culprit was, the Wooster Collective posted an image last night of the alleged suspect, and then even went so far as to postulate that it was indeed The Splasher himself. The Brooklyn Paper took a cue from Wooster, and reported this:

The incident has left many in the art world wondering, could this be the famous Splasher â€” a shadowy figure who has made headlines (in some circles) by vandalizing outdoors works by established graffiti artists.

If this isn’t the anatomy of irresponsible reporting and rumor mongering, we don’t know what is.

While it makes sense that Shepard would be pissed about some dude trying to smoke out his show, who would have expected him to have this to say about the Splasher?:

â€œIf you want to critique the absorption of the street art world into the bourgeois system, then say it in a way thatâ€™s not just totally destructive and really meaningless. The Splasher is just destroying and not making any contribution. And heâ€™s selective about splashing only people who do some of the best work because theyâ€™re the ones who end up succeeding commercially.â€